Couple Turns Their Wedding Into a Gift of Charity

What do diapers, strollers, food and onesies have to do with a wedding?

Seemingly nothing, unless you happened to be a guest of Larry Chancey and Donna O’Riordan, a longtime couple who tied the knot in an informal backyard celebration this weekend.

And instead of gifts for the Northport couple, who after 11 years together said they didn’t need any gifts, guests were invited to bring items to be donated to Helping Hand Rescue Mission. And so they did, ending up filling  filling a pickup truck worth of goods that were delivered Wednesday to the Huntington Station mission.

“We’ve been able to focus on what family means and helping others,” Chancey, who owns a handyman service, said.  The pair are especially committed to showing younger people how to get involved with helping others by setting a good example. Between them, they have six children, ranging in age from19 to mid-30s, and six grandchildren.

Chancey, who remembers well his own tough financial times earlier in life, said, “It was just an amazing weekend, to see the amount of stuff” that people donated. “We try to pay everything forward.”

The wedding, which included a pool party, drew about 140 guests, he said. Also donated were checks totaling $2,000 and 10 gift cards for Stop & Shop.

O’Riordan said the couple had first planned to get married last year but the Covid-19 epidemic intervened.

In the meantime, they’ve contributed to Helping Hands, donating meals at Thanksgiving and helping with Easter baskets;

We got to know the Chanceys during the height of the pandemic. They helped us many times when our food supplies were low or when we were holding special holiday drives etc.,” the Rev. Kim Gambino from Helping Hand said.

“We are thankful for people like the Chanceys in our community who truly care and share with those in need from their hearts!”

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